I'll have you know that it was the combination of both German and Welsh :p Though... I think I first found the blog because I was browsing a German or ~-related tag?
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Voting ended onMay 21
Tagging: @spaghettihell @onemoreattempt @siryyeet @this-here-is-not-singing @dchuntress @alex-strike-is-tr4nsg3nder @araevenn @nelyos-right-hand and anyone else who sees this and wants to answer. also yell at me if you don't want me to tag you. Or if you do want me to tag you. Thank youu :3
đšBREAKING: OpenAI published a paper proving that ChatGPT will always make things up.
Not sometimes. Not until the next update. Always. They proved it with math.
Even with perfect training data and unlimited computing power, AI models will still confidently tell you things that are completely false. This isn't a bug they're working on. It's baked into how these systems work at a fundamental level.
And their own numbers are brutal. OpenAI's o1 reasoning model hallucinates 16% of the time. Their newer o3 model? 33%. Their newest o4-mini? 48%. Nearly half of what their most recent model tells you could be fabricated. The "smarter" models are actually getting worse at telling the truth.
Here's why it can't be fixed. Language models work by predicting the next word based on probability. When they hit something uncertain, they don't pause. They don't flag it. They guess. And they guess with complete confidence, because that's exactly what they were trained to do.
The researchers looked at the 10 biggest AI benchmarks used to measure how good these models are. 9 out of 10 give the same score for saying "I don't know" as for giving a completely wrong answer: zero points. The entire testing system literally punishes honesty and rewards guessing.
So the AI learned the optimal strategy: always guess. Never admit uncertainty. Sound confident even when you're making it up.
OpenAI's proposed fix? Have ChatGPT say "I don't know" when it's unsure. Their own math shows this would mean roughly 30% of your questions get no answer. Imagine asking ChatGPT something three times out of ten and getting "I'm not confident enough to respond." Users would leave overnight. So the fix exists, but it would kill the product.
This isn't just OpenAI's problem. DeepMind and Tsinghua University independently reached the same conclusion. Three of the world's top AI labs, working separately, all agree: this is permanent.
Every time ChatGPT gives you an answer, ask yourself: is this real, or is it just a confident guess?
My favorite scenes in the LotR books are the ones where Legolas has vital information and just decides it's not important to share.
Like when Gandalf spent literal PAGES trying to figure out why the vibes were off in Moria and Legolas chimes in with just "it's a balrog :) that shit's evil :) we're so fucked :)" like what do you MEAN you knew already and just didn't tell him??
Or at the beginning of Two Towers when Aragorn thinks there's something nearby so he puts his ear to the ground to listen, and then like 10 minutes later is like "hmmm i hear horses" and Legolas is just like "mm yep. there are 105 blond bitches with spears" like you just let your friend put his face in the dirt and you can SEE them??
It's because legolas hasn't spent enough time with non-elves to remember that they don't know what he knows.
gandalf is scratching his head in moria, and legolas is thinking "oh man, the wizard noticed something off *besides* the obvious balrog that we all are aware of??"
"I wonder what aragorn is listening for? must be hard to hear, what with all of the horses. How many horses are there, actually? 1... 2... 3..."
So, I have seen this take beforeâŠ.and look, have whatever interpretations you want, but I just so strongly disagree.
Obligatory statement that of course Celine majorly messed up. Even if it was unintentional, she caused Rumi catastrophic shame that culminated in the scene at the tree.
But in my opinion, comparing her to Mother Gothel is SO disingenuous. Mother Gothel literally kidnapped Rapunzel and used her gift and powers for her own selfish benefit. She said deliberately cruel and degrading things to Rapunzel, trying to control her. What about that is like Celine? Celine raised Rumi to use her gifts to go out and HELP the world, to be independent with two excellent bandmates. Celine treated Rumiâs patterns like a disease to be cured, and it canât be understated how much that traumatized Rumi. But Celine did love Rumiâthe human side of herâand wanted to deny the part of Rumi that was part monster. Celine is NOT a bigoted conservative parent who wonât accept their queer or liberal child. She is a woman who is raising a child who is part DEMON, part soul sucking monster. Celine screwed up, but as far as she knew, part demons have never existed, and she was doing her best, and likeâŠshe had no idea how deeply Rumiâs connection to her demon heritage ran. It makes sense why she would think that covering up and trying to get rid of her patterns was the best and safest route. I mean think about it. It definitely is plausible that Celine would think that teaching Rumi to accept her demon patterns would lead to Gwi-Ma being able to easily reach her.
If anything, Celineâs most like Elsaâs parents from Frozen. Teaching their daughter to cover up potentially dangerous aspects of herself with good intentions but devastating consequences. Mother Gothel said deliberately cruel and manipulative things to Rapunzel, but Elsaâs parents and Celine did not.
But anyways. Yeah, Celine is nothing like Mother Gothel, and she certainly wouldnât ban Rumi from watching Tangled (which is a take Iâve seen here).
The people who say this I think *also* completely misunderstood the point of mother gothel and rapunzel.
Because Mother Gothel isn't just shorthand for a bad mom, she's a very specific brand of bad parent who claims to love and protect their child but views their child as a possession and who prevents their child from growing up and learning how to be independent. (Gothel literally uses Rapunzel, becomes violent when something treatens to take her away).
Man or a Monster by Sam Tinnesz & Zayde Wolf//Insp
it's so hard to tell which side you're on
one day is hell
the next day is the dawn
the lines are blurred
you keep rubbing your eyes
the tables turn
now it's time to survive
ppl arguing that Rumi and Jinu don't make sense as narrative foils because "Jinu's shame is justified and Rumi's isn't"
.......yeah, that's like, actively the thing that the movie is trying to get you to contemplate by making the two of them narrative foils. like. they did that on Absolute Purpose. That's like. The Point.
You're introduced to Rumi, and she's so lovable and forgivable. Her shame is obviously not justified because she's "one of the good ones," a perfect victim who hasn't done anything wrong and has worked so so hard to make up for her so-called flaws.
Pretty much the entire audience finds it very easy to recognize that Rumi should not be ashamed of herself. From the moment it's revealed that Rumi's dad was a demon--you see this in reaction after reaction--the audience is on Rumi's side. Because that's not her fault. She didn't ask for that. She hasn't done anything bad, other than maybe lying, and even that is understandable given the circumstances. (Most audience members forgive her very quickly for lying, if they even consider it an issue in the first place.)
Rumi's arc is lovely, but not very transgressive in this way. It follows a pretty well-known message in stories nowadays, which is that you shouldn't feel shame for your identity, for who you are.
But Rumi doesn't see it that way. To Rumi's mind, she is wrong and bad in measurable ways that she needs to make up for, and no amount of "no, it's not your fault" will convince her otherwise. Such is the nature of shame: everyone who feels it believes that it's a justified feeling.
...So then we get introduced to Jinu.
Jinu is... not the perfect victim, although he is a victim. He starts out as the antagonist of the movie. Where Rumi overcompensates for her shame by trying to be as good as possible, Jinu's shame (and, you know, Gwi-Ma) makes it difficult for him to try and be a "good person," because to him that feels like an unattainable goal that will only hurt more to try and reach. He's "inherently bad." That's what his shame tells him.
And unlike Rumi, Jinu made choices. "Choices he had no choice in," like Ahn Hyo-Seop said, but still choices. Over the course of the movie, we see him hurt people. That's what he's ashamed of. Genuinely hurting people.
And suddenly, a large part of the audience is starting to hesitate. People who were preaching self-love and empathizing with Rumi are getting uncomfortable, because this isn't the standard shame arc. Jinu isn't a perfect victim. So like... maybe he shouldn't have self-love. Maybe he should be a little ashamed.
...That's what a lot of people start to say.
But, crucially, the movie does not say this. In fact, the movie says the opposite.
The reason why Jinu and Rumi's two shames are framed as parallels to each other isn't because they have the same source, it's because they have the same degrading effect on the characters involved, and the same solution.
The audience might not view Jinu and Rumi's shame as "the same," from the outside, but it is super critical that Rumi views Jinu's shame as the same as hers, and Jinu views Rumi's shame as the same as his--actually, they both view each others' shame as less justified than their own. Because, again, remember, everyone who's ashamed of themself thinks their shame is justified. But they're both able to recognize that they're having the same feeling, and that feeling is holding them back from so much in their life. It's trapping them in constraints and limits.
And the only good and useful way forward, for either of them, will have to be self-acceptance.
Yeah, Jinu's shame stems from his choices. The movie challenges you to think about that--it says, okay, so you sympathize with Rumi. Now what about someone whose shame comes from their actions? Will you extend him the same grace? He's suffering in the same way. Or is there a line you can cross, something you can become that degrades your inherent worth and makes you less deserving of help and support?
Because, you know, if there is a line, everyone who has shame is going to think that they've crossed it. No matter what. That's what Rumi thinks of herself.
Jinu, I think, is for all the people struggling with shame who looked at Rumi and went "okay, maybe her shame isn't justified, but mine is. I'm not like Rumi, I'm actually bad." Jinu is the movie's way of doubling down and saying, no, we mean it. Shame is never useful. Everyone deserves freedom from shame. Everyone. Yes, even you. There is no line you can cross where you don't deserve that anymore.
That's the point they're trying to make by making Rumi and Jinu narrative foils.
btw, before I get comments arguing about how shame can be a useful motivator: I use a very specific definition of shame and a very specific definition of guilt. Shame is when you feel that some part of you is inherently bad in an unchangeable, immutable way. Guilt is when you feel that you've done something bad, but that you yourself are not inherently bad. Guilt can be a useful motivator to change your behavior, shame can usually not. I learned in a sociology class I took in college that they've actually done studies on this--generally, shaming someone for what they've done or who they are is counterproductive. The person usually either learns to hide the behavior/trait they're being shamed for better (but continues it in private), or leans into it more as a way of lashing out. Guilt tends to be much, much more useful towards changing someone's behavior. I don't have the study cited anymore because it was in my textbook, but here's a psychology today article that echoes a similar sentiment to what I'm trying to explain.
The idea of âbut everyone knows thatâ needs to stop.
I saw a post about someone chiding Millennials for not knowing about JKRowlings transphobia, and asking how it is at all possible that people can exist in the world and the internet and, you know, not know.
Which I mean, I get. It is so present in so many of my online spaces that it seems astounding that someone could simply be ignorant! It feels impossible!
But let me tell you a story:
I went on a girls trip with a bunch of friends. All of us are rather incredibly liberal and all of us are incredibly online.
One girl would not stop talking about Harry Potter.
At one point, another girl asked her why she was ok with supporting it, and she had no real clue that JK Rowling was at all transphobic. She had heard that she likes to support Lesbian causes and thought âoh ok cool!â And that was it. She was AGOG with the news and rather horrified.
I must once again emphasize that she was an incredibly online person. Sheâs a foodie and a restaurant blogger.
Later in the trip we were picking restaurants and I suggested one I found on Google, and she gasped at me. Actually gasped, asking how I could ever be okay picking that one.
The shock mustâve been on my face, because she then told me all of the shitty things that restaurateur does. He abuses staff. Underpays them. Fires them on a whim. Is known for being one of the worst people to his employees in the entire restaurant business on this coast.
And she was so shocked I had never heard of this. Because in her mind, I was just as online as her. And in her online world, EVERYONE knew about this guy.
So I think the moral of this story is: always approach the other person with some empathy. Even online people, even people you think MUST know about how bad people are, may not have heard. It may truly be just them being on a different sphere of the internet than you.
So be gentle, be kind when letting people know they might not have heard about the cancellation of XYZ person. Donât assume that everyone knows all the same info as you.
By all means, let them know so they can make informed decisions, but being kind will go a lot further than attacking them for some info they might not know yet.
Back on my bullshit again, but this has to be said.
Polytrix shippers/Rujinu-antis are more likely to be misogynistic than Rujinu shippers or just Jinu enjoyers. That's just how it is.
The fact that people are this quick to assume that the only appeal a male character can get is because of their attractiveness and people who enjoy those characters MUST be "young girls who don't have their head on straight," is absolutely vile, condescending, and sexist. Those are screenshots of real posts that were directed to me, and I now shall confess something I didn't bring up before, but... I don't even identify as a woman.
And yet despite the fact that people claim that hating on Jinu is "protecting girls," only to immediately attack said "girls" (or me, because somehow I pass as an underage girl) when they dare to defend him, like genuinely, it only proves that you, in fact, don't give a shit about women whatsoever. That you will sooner attack other women for liking Jinu and Rujinu than supposedly toxic men that are "the real villain here". Like I didn't bring up my gender expression (and still choose not to, my identity is mine's to keep, just clarifying that it's nowhere near being a woman on this post only) specifically because I'd just know that it would be an even quicker switch to suddenly villainise me and portray me as some kind of toxic predator male instead because that's how willing people are just to hate on someone just because, but the fact it's still only the SECOND option baffles me, like whose side are you on at this point?
It has to be said: it doesn't matter if you love or hate Jinu, if you're going to care only about his physical appearance and take his actions for granted, you're still the problem, you're still misogonystic, because fighting misogony is not just about fighting toxic men, it's recognising them, but how are you going to recognise them if you're not going to look beyond what's on the surface? How are you going to fight them if you assume every pretty face is up to no good? How are you going to recognise truly toxic behaviour if all it takes is a human mistake to be considered irredeemable?
Heck, and don't even get me started on how Polytrix fandom is filled with smut and sexual content, like genuinely, why do you feel the urge to shame women for finding a guy attractive only to reblog extra horny fanart of Polytrix? I'm not even here to deny the existence of smutty Rujinu, but on the main tag, I will sooner come across smut of Polytrix. Polytrix itself is currently the largest polyship on AO3; it's effectively the hot shit, and it simply does not catch as much hate as Rujinu. It really just doesn't, as it's just not proportionate. I love Polytrix, and it's smut, it's not the actual problem, the problem is very clear double-standard that one ship will get more of a pass over something while the other will be condemned to the ground over it.
Like this thing here, I can perfectly break down why Jinu, in fact, was not manipulative towards Rumi beyond their first meeting, and disregarding their connection just because Rumi didn't have a choice revealing her patterns, doesn't mean she didn't have a choice when proposing to him the plan for him to sabotage Saja Boys and keep him on the other side of the sealed golden honmoon. Like how he literally said to Rumi multiple times how he's not the kind of guy she should trust or rely on when achieving this goal, as if Rumi truly would've expected anything from him, as far as he's aware. If Jinu was genuinely manipulating Rumi, he'd genuinely play along to gain her trust; he wouldn't even bother bringing up how he's not the kind of guy to help her, how he's in fact hopeless. Those actions were not designed to make Rumi trust him; Jinu didn't even try; he sabotaged himself. He had a golden opportunity to take advantage of Rumi there and then, and didn't take it. Rumi on the other hand immediately took advantage of his facade of confidence slipping the moment a little girl gave him a drawing as him as an angel; she's the one who arranged their meetings while denying any time he arranged his meetings with her beyond the first one (Jinu had to go to fan signing to talk with her instead), she's the one who set the plan and terms that boiled down to Jinu potentially going against his friends, his people, and his master, she even said flat out she was using him when defending herself from Mira and Zoey, but does anyone acknowledge this?
This thing also just showcases misogyny because Mira and Zoey are adult women who didn't even know that Jinu orchestrated the reveal, let alone how much Jinu hurt Rumi by using their doppelgangers to expose her on the stage. They did, however, see the aftermath; they saw exposed Rumi on the verge of breaking down right in front of them, and they still chose to raise their weapons at her, at their friend. Jinu didn't even have to do anything; someone else could've exposed Rumi, or Rumi herself could've slipped up, and the outcome would still be the same.
You can come up with a hundred valid reasons why Zoey and Mira did what they did, and whether or not they're justified, or how much they hated it, but you can't do that while pretending Jinu is literally not in the same basket. Misogony is not just hating on women; misogony is not seeing women as people capable of their own choices and actions. It's about denying women agency and autonomy. Putting responsibility solely on Jinu for what happens, robs Mira and Zoey of their own shortcomings and mind you, just because you acknowledge their faults and mistakes, doesn't mean they're also somehow worse than Jinu The fact that you're this quick to assume that someone holding women accountable for doing something messed up they're still capable of doing like any other human beings, SOMEHOW makes them worse than a guy, really goes to show how little you genuinely think of women.
Jinu was abused and tortured into betraying Rumi, Mira, and Zoey were conditioned to hate demons to the point of turning against their very friend. Very much the same context, but Jinu will catch way more heat for it than both Mira and Zoey combined. And even so, even though all 3 of them hurt Rumi, Rumi still chose to forgive all of them, but people won't care about that; they'd rather focus on Jinu slighting Rumi and somehow make Rumi's hurt about him manipulating her and not him giving up on himself and her. Rumi broke down and wanted to die because Jinu, Mira, and Zoey all gave up on her; that was what did her, not just Jinu betraying her
Like, I shouldn't be the one saying all of this. I'm not a woman; I don't live a life facing misogyny 24/7, I'm not the biggest victim of all of this, and still in my anonymity, I still somehow managed to came across the very same hate that women face and over simply giving Jinu, Mira, and Zoey a grace of being human beings capable of doing something messed up while not being 100% in control of the entire situation. I'm not a woman, yet I got called a little girl who doesn't have her head straight. I'm not a woman, yet I saw comments about how I should "get better soon" (which by itself is disgusting because of the fact that you still shame women for their feelings). Genuinely, what the fuck.
Don't come to me saying either Jinu, Mira, or Zoey is your favorite character when you don't treat any of them fairly. Don't come to me saying Mira and Zoey did nohing wrong (they absolutely did, and it's ok) or that Jinu did everything wrong, you're doing anyone ANY justice. Don't even come to me saying you like Rumi while thinking she had no agency in her interactions with Jinu, you're just a liar. Heck, don't even come to me saying how I "have fabricated a story in my head" while bending over backwards to justify the narrative of Jinu only ever manipulating Rumi. Like, genuinely stop.
Saying "If you defend this character you must be a little girl who's so blinded by a hot man that she can't think straight" is the most misogynistic thing I've ever heard in fandom discourse. And then proceeds to call you a misogynist.
Especially since Rumi is extremely in control of the Jinu-situation. She refuses to meet him at first and only meets him when she wants to, she immediately clocks when he bullshits her and only opens up when he opens up first.
Yes, Jinu was sent to manipulate her, but he failed miserably. She literally made him switch sides, that's the most pathetic manipulation attempt I've ever seen. And because she's so smart, she can tell that he's being honest. He only goes back on their deal because he was tortured.
Rumi is in control, she's competent, and saying she was the helpless damsel manipulated by the evil sexy man is also misogynistic (and just completely misunderstanding the whole movie).
I'm actually kind of really insulted right now, because apparently if I, as a woman, defend this very complicated and complex character, I must be blinded by my hormones because he's so sexy. NO, ACTUALLY I'M SMART BECAUSE I CAN SEE HIS COMPLEXITY AND TELL FICTION FROM FREALTIY. I WOULDN'T ACTUALLY DATE A MURDERER.
Back on my bullshit again, but this has to be said.
Polytrix shippers/Rujinu-antis are more likely to be misogynistic than Rujinu shippers or just Jinu enjoyers. That's just how it is.
The fact that people are this quick to assume that the only appeal a male character can get is because of their attractiveness and people who enjoy those characters MUST be "young girls who don't have their head on straight," is absolutely vile, condescending, and sexist. Those are screenshots of real posts that were directed to me, and I now shall confess something I didn't bring up before, but... I don't even identify as a woman.
And yet despite the fact that people claim that hating on Jinu is "protecting girls," only to immediately attack said "girls" (or me, because somehow I pass as an underage girl) when they dare to defend him, like genuinely, it only proves that you, in fact, don't give a shit about women whatsoever. That you will sooner attack other women for liking Jinu and Rujinu than supposedly toxic men that are "the real villain here". Like I didn't bring up my gender expression (and still choose not to, my identity is mine's to keep, just clarifying that it's nowhere near being a woman on this post only) specifically because I'd just know that it would be an even quicker switch to suddenly villainise me and portray me as some kind of toxic predator male instead because that's how willing people are just to hate on someone just because, but the fact it's still only the SECOND option baffles me, like whose side are you on at this point?
It has to be said: it doesn't matter if you love or hate Jinu, if you're going to care only about his physical appearance and take his actions for granted, you're still the problem, you're still misogonystic, because fighting misogony is not just about fighting toxic men, it's recognising them, but how are you going to recognise them if you're not going to look beyond what's on the surface? How are you going to fight them if you assume every pretty face is up to no good? How are you going to recognise truly toxic behaviour if all it takes is a human mistake to be considered irredeemable?
Heck, and don't even get me started on how Polytrix fandom is filled with smut and sexual content, like genuinely, why do you feel the urge to shame women for finding a guy attractive only to reblog extra horny fanart of Polytrix? I'm not even here to deny the existence of smutty Rujinu, but on the main tag, I will sooner come across smut of Polytrix. Polytrix itself is currently the largest polyship on AO3; it's effectively the hot shit, and it simply does not catch as much hate as Rujinu. It really just doesn't, as it's just not proportionate. I love Polytrix, and it's smut, it's not the actual problem, the problem is very clear double-standard that one ship will get more of a pass over something while the other will be condemned to the ground over it.
Like this thing here, I can perfectly break down why Jinu, in fact, was not manipulative towards Rumi beyond their first meeting, and disregarding their connection just because Rumi didn't have a choice revealing her patterns, doesn't mean she didn't have a choice when proposing to him the plan for him to sabotage Saja Boys and keep him on the other side of the sealed golden honmoon. Like how he literally said to Rumi multiple times how he's not the kind of guy she should trust or rely on when achieving this goal, as if Rumi truly would've expected anything from him, as far as he's aware. If Jinu was genuinely manipulating Rumi, he'd genuinely play along to gain her trust; he wouldn't even bother bringing up how he's not the kind of guy to help her, how he's in fact hopeless. Those actions were not designed to make Rumi trust him; Jinu didn't even try; he sabotaged himself. He had a golden opportunity to take advantage of Rumi there and then, and didn't take it. Rumi on the other hand immediately took advantage of his facade of confidence slipping the moment a little girl gave him a drawing as him as an angel; she's the one who arranged their meetings while denying any time he arranged his meetings with her beyond the first one (Jinu had to go to fan signing to talk with her instead), she's the one who set the plan and terms that boiled down to Jinu potentially going against his friends, his people, and his master, she even said flat out she was using him when defending herself from Mira and Zoey, but does anyone acknowledge this?
This thing also just showcases misogyny because Mira and Zoey are adult women who didn't even know that Jinu orchestrated the reveal, let alone how much Jinu hurt Rumi by using their doppelgangers to expose her on the stage. They did, however, see the aftermath; they saw exposed Rumi on the verge of breaking down right in front of them, and they still chose to raise their weapons at her, at their friend. Jinu didn't even have to do anything; someone else could've exposed Rumi, or Rumi herself could've slipped up, and the outcome would still be the same.
You can come up with a hundred valid reasons why Zoey and Mira did what they did, and whether or not they're justified, or how much they hated it, but you can't do that while pretending Jinu is literally not in the same basket. Misogony is not just hating on women; misogony is not seeing women as people capable of their own choices and actions. It's about denying women agency and autonomy. Putting responsibility solely on Jinu for what happens, robs Mira and Zoey of their own shortcomings and mind you, just because you acknowledge their faults and mistakes, doesn't mean they're also somehow worse than Jinu The fact that you're this quick to assume that someone holding women accountable for doing something messed up they're still capable of doing like any other human beings, SOMEHOW makes them worse than a guy, really goes to show how little you genuinely think of women.
Jinu was abused and tortured into betraying Rumi, Mira, and Zoey were conditioned to hate demons to the point of turning against their very friend. Very much the same context, but Jinu will catch way more heat for it than both Mira and Zoey combined. And even so, even though all 3 of them hurt Rumi, Rumi still chose to forgive all of them, but people won't care about that; they'd rather focus on Jinu slighting Rumi and somehow make Rumi's hurt about him manipulating her and not him giving up on himself and her. Rumi broke down and wanted to die because Jinu, Mira, and Zoey all gave up on her; that was what did her, not just Jinu betraying her
Like, I shouldn't be the one saying all of this. I'm not a woman; I don't live a life facing misogyny 24/7, I'm not the biggest victim of all of this, and still in my anonymity, I still somehow managed to came across the very same hate that women face and over simply giving Jinu, Mira, and Zoey a grace of being human beings capable of doing something messed up while not being 100% in control of the entire situation. I'm not a woman, yet I got called a little girl who doesn't have her head straight. I'm not a woman, yet I saw comments about how I should "get better soon" (which by itself is disgusting because of the fact that you still shame women for their feelings). Genuinely, what the fuck.
Don't come to me saying either Jinu, Mira, or Zoey is your favorite character when you don't treat any of them fairly. Don't come to me saying Mira and Zoey did nohing wrong (they absolutely did, and it's ok) or that Jinu did everything wrong, you're doing anyone ANY justice. Don't even come to me saying you like Rumi while thinking she had no agency in her interactions with Jinu, you're just a liar. Heck, don't even come to me saying how I "have fabricated a story in my head" while bending over backwards to justify the narrative of Jinu only ever manipulating Rumi. Like, genuinely stop.
Saying "If you defend this character you must be a little girl who's so blinded by a hot man that she can't think straight" is the most misogynistic thing I've ever heard in fandom discourse. And then proceeds to call you a misogynist.
Especially since Rumi is extremely in control of the Jinu-situation. She refuses to meet him at first and only meets him when she wants to, she immediately clocks when he bullshits her and only opens up when he opens up first.
Yes, Jinu was sent to manipulate her, but he failed miserably. She literally made him switch sides, that's the most pathetic manipulation attempt I've ever seen. And because she's so smart, she can tell that he's being honest. He only goes back on their deal because he was tortured.
Rumi is in control, she's competent, and saying she was the helpless damsel manipulated by the evil sexy man is also misogynistic (and just completely misunderstanding the whole movie).
way down the line in the kpdh universe Rumi is gonna start going gray, therefore making her hair seem like an impressive trick pulled off by a stylist to fake having naturally purple hair that's going gray. and there's gonna be so many social media posts about "nobody commits to the bit harder than ryu rumi trying to convince the public her hair is naturally purple"
I love the way that Jinu is soooo gentle with Rumi. I mean this is nothing I haven't said before but the way he deflects his doubts of her plan with phrasing like "what makes you think the honmoon could help a guy like me" or "I don't think I'm the one to help you" instead of flat-out saying he doesn't believe demons are capable of being good, because he knows she'll take it personally even though obviously in his mind she's the exception. the way he immediately locks in his attention on her when she starts talking about how she believes she's a mistake, how he clearly got stuck on that enough that he needed to tell her "I don't think you're a mistake" before he left, even though the conversation had kinda moved on at that point. the way he always tries to show her his human eyes and not his demon eyes. the way even when he's having a breakdown, when he blows up, you can immediately see him struggle to dial it back and control himself so he's not yelling at her.
like this is not just a rujinu post. this is a thing of like. Jinu really wholeheartedly believes he's a bad person who hurts anyone he interacts with or cares about, but when he meets someone who he sees as good, he immediately tries so so hard to not hurt her. even though he thinks he's bad. he carries himself so carefully because she's the first person in centuries to halfway care about him and he doesn't want to hurt someone like that again
Thinking about KPDH Demons always makes me crazy because like⊠Youâre either born into a hell where your body and soul are owned by a sadistic master who can and will permanently kill you if you donât please him, or youâre tricked in your most desperate moments into giving up your humanity for a monkeyâs paw of a wish that will ultimately make you miserable. And no matter what, youâre trapped. Whoâs gonna help you? The god-like being who can yank you around by your patterns and puts voices in your head to make you hate yourself? The Hunters who will slaughter you for existing? The humans who are just as powerless as you? Nobody can. Itâs not just the hopelessness talking, nobody can help you. This is your life. Serve your king or perish.
Itâs even worse when you used to be human, because then you remember how it used to be. You wish you could go back, because even at your most desperate, you still had autonomy. You once lived your whole life in charge of your own soul and you never knew how good you had it until it stopped being yours. Youâre not human anymore and the human realm isnât your homeâ the Hunters will kill you, the humans will scream and rat you out to the Hunters, you have no life there anymore. Itâs gone. This is all you are now, another soldier for Gwi-Maâs war.
If you refuse to work for him, what will it do? Youâll die, heâll get another demon to take your place, and youâll have died for nothing. Nobody will care. You wonât be a martyr because as far as Hunters are concerned, you should die. You will have deserved to die, as all demons should. They want to cut you off from the world and trap you in literal hell to suffer forever, to be eventually killed and consumed by the king you never wanted, and youâre supposed to what, die quietly? How is that fair?
The answer is that itâs not. Itâll never be fair again. So you can either die in hell, have this be the end of the road and have no idea what happens to your corrupted soul when youâre dead, or you can do whatever it takes to survive, because if nobody is going to help you, you have to help yourself. Damn everyone else, why should you care about them if they donât care about you? If they donât see you as a person, just a monster that deserves suffering?
There isnât a single demon still alive that hasnât killed before. There are no perfect victims, because the perfect victims are already dead and nobody cared about them. Nobody remembers them when theyâre gone.
And I love that. Because so often, when there are victims, people who are suffering, you want to absolve them, say they have never done anything wrong so therefore, their suffering is so tragic and âPureâ, but what if it wasnât? What if it was true that they killed people and caused harm AND they were victims of a horribly inhuman environment? If you put people in a terrible environment where they have to do horrible things to survive, youâre gonna get people who have done horrible things to survive, because no one else survives otherwise. And it makes the morals messier, because things stop being so black and white.
In the movie, you can see the demons be visibly terrified of Gwi-Ma and warily watch as the flight attendant demon shakily walks to her death. Gwi-Ma kills her in front of everyone and they watch her die screaming. They cower (and one of them cries) when he yells at them. Theyâre desperate to make their king happyâ when the first souls come into the demon realm, thereâs a demon who sounds excited about it, even though Gwi-Ma seems to take all the souls for himself. They know souls mean Gwi-Maâs mood will be better, so heâll be less likely to rage, to kill, to make them all miserable in the process.
Even Jinu, who is able to approach Gwi-Ma with a mocking song in the beginning, still shows a lot of fear and apprehension the second he realizes that Gwi-Ma knows he tried to escape, and immediately gets punished very publicly for it, once again being told this is all he is and he can never escape it.
Which is all a big reason why I love the idea of redemption in KPDH for demons specifically. Because while you have done a lot of wrong in the world, you had little to no autonomy. So what if you did? What choices would you make if you had a choice? If you were given a second chance, if you were suddenly shown kindness and humanity that you had been denied, what would you do then?
Not everyone would make good choices. But some would. Especially for freedom, many would. And maybe your own freedom isnât the purest of reasons to turn over a new leaf, but the results in this case matter more than the intention. Making allies over enemies, or at least having less enemies than before, is always a net positive.
Have y'all heard the Demo of "What it sounds like"? Because oh my God IT'S SO HEAVENLY. We need the Demos on Spotify NOW. Anyways, heres the video for it!
I LOVE THE FACT THAT THERE WAS A REPRISE OF "FREE" IN IT. I HEARD THAT RUMI SINGS IT AFTER JINU DIES?? IM GONNA BE SICK OUUUHHHđ„čđ„čđ„č
the silmarillion is wild because you read it and you're like huh okay, and then you read lotr and it turns out everyone's just going around doing their own thing while the surviving elves are living through the final chapters of a post-apocalyptic horror story
rivendell's a pretty chill place, right? everyone gets along splendidly. dream retirement home et cetera. solid chance the guy you're having afternoon tea with has either survived or personally committed war crimes. also the reason it's so chill is elrond has this magic ring that makes it so the whole place exists slightly outside normal time
galadriel's been around since the beginning, like, for pretty much all of middle-earth's history you understand, she has Seen it all and despite what you may have been led to believe is at all times this close to snapping. also the reason lothlorien is so chill is she has this magic ring that makes it so the whole place exists slightly outside normal time
i can't emphasize enough how much of a post-apocalyptic horror story thranduil lives in. homeland destroyed and half his people massacred. has fucken sauron in his backyard and the spawn of the primordial beast that eats light puttering about on his lawn. a dragon lives next door. does NOT have a magic ring and is therefore obliged to rule over his murderforest in normal time
just so we're all on the same page here, legolas' day job before joining the fellowship was to hunt the spawn of the primordial beast that eats light and it's not like, a big deal or anything. he just has to do it. he's used to it.
'elves are leaving middle-earth and it's so sad :(' they have ptsd samwise.
I cosplayed a FĂ«anorian some time ago, and talked about it with a lotr fan who hasn't read the Silm. It went like this:
Me "yeah, these people are elves too, just from a time when elves were a lot younger and less wise and a lot more impulsive"
And he was like "oh, that sounds like fun"
Me, internally replaying 600 years of trauma, darkness and horror Stephen King would be jealous of "Yeah. Fun."
But this is actually hilarious to me because it happens so often. "oh, elves are so wise and regal and serene"
No, elves actually duel gods and demons like it's no big deal, and even defeated and tortured they will burst their chains and bite a werewolf to death, and they survive decades of torture and all it does is make them so frightening that it makes their enemies flee from afar, and their eyes shine with a divine light, and they commit unspeakable war crimes. The only reason the elves in lotr are Like That is because they are the small group of survivors of a war that broke a continent apart and (contrary to humans) are actually capable of learning from history. The only reason why lotr even happened like that is because Elrond and Galadriel are the only Finwëans left at that point. Give them two more and watch Sauron run
Every time someone claims that elves are so boring I hit them with the "Maedhros did deeds of surpassing valour, and the Orcs fled before his face; for since his torment upon Thangorodrim his spirit burned like a white fire within, and he was as one that returns from the dead." The first age was so much shorter than the other ages, because, like a flame, it burned so much brighter, the things that happened there aren't even on the same scale as the rest of middle-earth history. Smaug escaped from the first age because he was so small no one noticed. There were literally armies of balrogs and dragons
my bone to pick with how a lot of fandom treats dysfunctional and/or unhealthy relationships is that it's all suuuper black and white. which I don't mean in a "well I just think there's nuance to abuse" kind of way, more that transformative fan spaces have difficulty holding on to the idea that a relationship (of any flavor, platonic, romantic, familial, sexual, secret fifth thing, etc) can have healthy and unhealthy elements at once and be capable of growing past the unhealthy parts without needing to just be severed. which is strange to me, because that's, like, basically Every relationship in real life, ongoing stable dynamics are all about the continual process of liking someone enough to figure out how to keep being around them as you both become different people to the ones you were when you met, but fandoms are really set on only ever saying "dump his ass" whenever two fictional characters who like each other accidentally tread over some medium sized boundaries because external conflict came up. I love toxic yuri and toxic yaoi but a lot of what I see get labeled as that is just "two averagely depressed and traumatized people like hanging out together and make exactly the same mundane mistakes that everyone does in those situations."
